This Saturday I attended A Taste of France--French wine, cheeses, Dartagnan pates, porcelain, etc.
I attended two seminars during the afternoon.
Different importers or wine producers were represented. Calvert- Woodley Wine Shop was a major sponsor. Only took down names of wines I especially liked as I was juggling wine glass, listing of wines, sometimes a plate, and purse.

At the Louis Latour table I especially liked the Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru and Beaune Vignes Franches.

From William Harrison table I liked a 2005 Morey-St-Denis "Tres Girard."

David Milligan Selections table had two very nice Fournier white Sancerres. I really liked the Les Belles Vignes which one website has priced at $14.99 for a half-bottle, but another listing has the 750 ml. at $23.95 which seems very reasonable for the quality. Interesting nose on the Grande Cuvee' Sancerre (which is expensive for Sancerre, comparable to some of the better Cotat wines.) These were not available for purchase at Calvert-Woodley as single bottles but only orders of six bottles to be delivered/picked up later.

Several tables had Champagne. I asked Vranken-Pommery representative to pour me the one with the most Pinot Noir and sampled the Heidsieck Blue Top, Non-Vintage (around $30) which I did like. Wine Spectator has given it 91 points in 2007.

At Remy Martin table I enjoyed Cointreau and Cointreau Noir which blends regular Cointreau with Remy Martin cognac. It was suggested that we try the Cointreau Noir both straight and with an ice cube as it changes the character somewhat. (One for the fireside in winter and one for the patio in summer.)

GiroMondo put on the seminars I attended. The first was "Men are from Bordeaux, Women are from Burgundy." It went into some of the differences in how men and women approach wines and then served a 2005 Louis Latour Marsannay as a Burgundy sample and a 2005 Medoc (I believe a Chateau Chantel although I didn't see the label and am judging from the pronunciation.) The majority of the men in the audience did prefer the Bordeaux and the majority of the women did prefer the Burgundy although there were some crossovers.

The second seminar I attended was on French cheeses. We were given some education on cheesemaking and varieties of cheese (white rind, orange rind, pressed, cooked, mold cheeses, etc.) and were supposed to sample five varieties. Unfortunately my plate tipped (that juggling act again) and only two survived on my plate--luckily the Roquefort was one of the two.